Chapter 47: The Ado Continues
Elizabeth returns home to find the Bennet household in complete disarray. Mr. Bennet has gone to London to chase down Wickham, while Mrs. Bennet is practically in hysterics. Of course, this is rational; Mr. Bennet's only two options at this point are to either somehow convince Wickham to marry his daughter—and he doesn't have a whole lot to bargain with—or to demand a duel to preserve his daughter's honor.
I don't know about you, but in any kind of armed conflict, I'm not exactly favoring the aging bookworm over the young military man. And it isn't really helping matters that, oh yeah, remember that when Mr. Bennet dies, Mr. Collins gets the house and has every right to kick the ladies out of it. So any panic caused by these events is well and truly justified, and panicking is pretty much all the Bennets can do the next few days because their father isn't sending any letters. In the meantime, Uncle Bennet rides to London to help with the search and maybe send back any news whatsoever.
With nothing else they can possibly do but hold down the fort, the Bennets pretty much just spend the rest of the chapter speculating on the character and intention of the runaway lovers. Elizabeth learns that Lydia left a letter for the friend she was staying with, saying "lol going to Scotland, don't tell mum and dad, they'll be so surprised when I sign my next letter 'Lydia Wickham' LMAO". So she's still an idiot, but it does make Wickham 100% responsible for the marriage not taking place. As though that's any comfort at this point.